Portland-based Looptworks rescues textiles from the waste stream and is moving into scrap leather.

After working with everything from discarded neoprene wetsuit fabric to Italian wool, leather is a new material for Looptworks, but fits with the company's goals to reduce manufacturing waste by using textiles that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

"Consider this: In a single day, one factory generates 4,500 pounds of excess scrap leather which is equivalent more than 9 million gallons of water," said Scott Hamlin, co-founder of Looptworks, in a statement.